1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cooking apparatus and methods, and in particular, to cooking techniques that make the cooking temperature adjustable and leave the cooking food easily accessible.
2. Description of Related Art
Home barbecues and other types of home cooking grills and rotisseries are adequate for cooking simple, small batches of food, but are inadequate for more demanding cooking. For example, cooking a whole pig is impossible with traditional home cooking devices. For this reason, consumers are left to their own devices, such as excavating a fire pit and building a fireproof structure to support a heavy-duty roasting spit. Such cooking arrangements are not only difficult to build, but difficult to operate. Maintaining a proper fire for delivering the correct amount of even heat is also difficult. Moreover, an open fire is relatively inefficient and most heat is dissipated into the environment.
Even when the food being cooked is a simple batch of hamburgers and hot dogs, conventional barbecues are lacking. The heat produced by a conventional charcoal barbecue varies dramatically over time. When the charcoal is first ignited little heat is delivered, but then the heat gradually rises to a peak before gradually declining as the charcoal is consumed. Therefore, the cook must avoid overcooking during the peak interval or undercooking cooking outside this peak interval.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,572 charcoal tray 32 can be vertically adjusted by threaded crankshaft 56, relative to grill 30 or to motor-powered rotisserie shaft 96 mounted in cover 38. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,154,159, and 2,968,301
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,101 a food basket 25 can be turned by hand crank 26. The same hand crank circulates endless chain 31A to rotate camshaft 58. Thus as the food basket 25 is turned on edge, charcoal grill 33 is retracted by cam crank 53 to avoid a collision with food basket 25.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,306 a support frame 90/92 for supporting a grill or rotisserie rod can be hoisted or lowered by cables 106, which are wound on shaft 140 of adjustment wheel 141.
The firebox 50 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,062 can be raised and lowered by placing the ends of handlebars 40 in different notches 32 of the rotisserie grill. A small pig or other food can be mounted on the spit 70 and rotated by motor 130. The roasting food can be covered by a cover 160 to provide a drum-shaped enclosure.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,943,557 vertically adjustable firebox 30 protrudes through bottom opening 27 of conical reflector 20, and may be adjusted up and down using handle 55. Notches 56 engage bar 14, which is connected to arm 50 using pin 57.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,190 fireboxes 23, 25 are supported by cantilever arms 27, which are vertically moveable in the grill housing. Using handles 51 to swing cranks 45 out of notches 49, fireboxes 23, 25 may be moved along slot 29 in post 15 to their desired vertical position.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,809,297 temperature switch 38 regulates the temperature in cooking chamber 12. Motor 56 rotates spit 58. Motor 71 rotates heating element 44, and drive gear 74 is adapted and configured to engage “D” shaped wheel 76 for positioning hearing element 44 at various locations within cooking chamber 12.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,083 heating unit 30 can be vertically displaced by motor 32. Motor 13 can operate turntable 11 and a separate motor 43 vertically displaces light curtain 40 relative to heating unit 30. Controller 50 automatically adjusts the position of heating unit 30 and serves as a timer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,544 the vertical position of heating elements 10 and 20 may be controlled by a motor 34.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,675 firebox 15 is supported on cross members 13, which comprise a firebox track 16. Latches 21 and studs 20 allow the firebox to be horizontally adjusted along track 16 when the user grasps handle 23.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,045 vertically-oriented second firebox 38 is positioned in housing 12 opposite first firebox 22. Handle 42 protrudes through an opening in the grill housing 12 and allows horizontal movement of firebox 38 using a roller on the grill's bottom 16.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,615 firebox thermostat 44 controls the temperature within cooking chamber 15 by regulating the passage of air through firebox inlet port 17 and the corresponding combustion rate within firebox 12.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,269 prod 36 of thermostat 35 projects into barbecuing oven 8 to determine the temperature of the oven. Current to heating element 39 is cut off when the predetermined temperature is reached, and switched back on when the temperature drops below a specified level.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,517 as control housing 24 is rotated, heating element 28 and reflector 30 are also rotated within the grill bowl. Rotisserie rod 38 is operated by drive unit 42. Thermostat 194 is controlled by rotating knob 182 to switch the power to heating element 28 on and off. Thermostat 194 also detects ambient heat within housing 24 and adjusts the current to heating element 28 according to the position on control knob 182.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,691 panel 4 includes oven thermostat 5 and panel 3 includes toast thermostat control and oven on-off switch 6. These switches control temperature inside the toaster oven.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,714 drive means 7 rotates turntable 5 within cooking chamber 2. Turntable 5 is also vertically moveable, to allow even cooking of food.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,793 firebox 21 is rotated by motor 17 in order to promote radiant and convective heating.
In U.S. Patent Application 2003/0015188 cooling fans 32 and 34, designed to regulate the temperature in region 30, are controlled by a processor module 36 in accordance with an output signal from temperature detector 42.
See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,359,887; 3,490,357; 3,943,837; 4,089,258; 4,334,516; 4,462,306; 4,924,766; 5,140,896; 5,224,676; 5,410,950; 5,536,518; 5,649,475; 5,720,217; 6,131,505; 6,131,560; 6,138,553; 6,189,528; 6,314,955; D336,593; and D403,919.